Serial # B100011, sold on GB for $3025 plus tax & fees. I consider this a bargain for collectors. No, I didn't buy it. Didn't even bid. A few years ago, I would have gone all in, but my collecting days are long over.

Notice the interesting new factoid I learned: the JJ came in the factory blue cardboard box.

Very nice indeed.

I really like seeing these examples of collectable pistols.
I will never have one but at least I get to see them, haha.

What made this a collectors item? How is it different from my KK P228 with a factory box and target? Is it only because of the W Germany stamp?

Tony.

That is really cool. I chased one of these for years till the interest wore off and I got onto something else. Still, very very neat to see one in the wild!

Thank you for sharing the find.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
No, I didn't buy it. Didn't even bid.

I was just about to ask when would we get to see more pics.

It would have been great to know that your collection could have been complete.

Gorgeous. The P228 is on my list of guns to bring back into my stable. I’m a shooter not a collector, though. $2k is way out of my price range, but is an excellent condition gun my goodness. I didn’t realize people were paying that much for older P series Sigs even in that condition.

quote:

What made this a collectors item?

quote:

I didn’t realize people were paying that much for older P series Sigs even in that condition.

They paid that much because it is a first year gun, and there were only 100 made (# B100001 to B100100). They were not made for public sale at the time. That's why they are highly valued by collectors.

Thanks.

It appears to have NO 'Import Marks' either!

Looks exactly like mine! I paid $550 though. Collectors will pay anything it looks like

Did SIG-Sauer start at B 100000 or did they start at B 100001?

^^^ Started with B100001. The following info I received several years ago is verbatim from a former manager at SIG DE.

"Serial number B100001 to B100059, plus B100069-B100099 were sent to SIG HQ in Switzerland, while B100060 to B100068 plus B100100 were sent to SIG Arms in Herndon VA, USA."

So, the present example (# B100011) must have gone to Switzerland originally, so no SIGARMS, Herndon, VA import mark.

That simple blue box is definitely a scarce item. Just adds to the interesting history.

Here's mine that I bought at a local gun show years ago for $250.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Notice the interesting new factoid I learned: the JJ came in the factory blue cardboard box.

I'm assuming this is noteworthy since the P220 usually had blue boxes or something else entirely?

^^^ The Herndon P228s, JK (1989) and the first half of the KA (1990), came in the red cardboard box. I've always assumed that the JJ came in the same colored box, but that turned out to be incorrect assumption.

Funny thing is, unlike the other factory boxes of the era, this blue box looks like just a shipping box in blue color and "SIG SAUER" on it.

Kind of cool to see such an early example. I know that you've posted about trying to find a 'JJ' over the years, so it's neat to see the evidence that these unicorns do exist here and quite evidently do come up for sale.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

What made this a collectors item?

quote:

I didn’t realize people were paying that much for older P series Sigs even in that condition.

They paid that much because it is a first year gun, and there were only 100 made (# B100001 to B100100). They were not made for public sale at the time. That's why they are highly valued by collectors.

I missed that part. That definitely makes a difference.

I asked the seller if there’s an import mark and they said yes. I didn’t ask anything further. Obviously it isn’t a Herndon VA mark, so it’s just the mark of whatever third party imported it.

As for the box, I guess it isn’t out of the question that maybe some of these 1st-year models came in the familiar red box. But who knows? Maybe all of them came in this plain blue box, especially since these first guns were never offered on the commercial market anyway.